Like many people today I’m a Chrome user. It’s simply faster and more stable than Firefox and all of the thing I really have to have for extensions are present in Chrome. Sure I’ve got Firefox (and all other browsers) around because I build websites for a living and need to test things but Chrome is my go to browser.
### Missing?
The only thing that’s really missing, at least for me, is a great plugin to use Delicious Bookmarks with Chrome. The Firefox extension is simply awesome. It replaces the native bookmarks in Firefox with Delicious so you can easily move to a new machine and use all the same bookmarks.
### Chrome Options
Now let’s take a look at the field of options for using Delicious Bookmarks with Chrome.
#### Delibar
First up we have [Delibar](http://www.delibarapp.com/) which is not actually a Chrome extension but a Mac application for interacting with Delicious. The advantage of using a fully native desktop client is that if you move to a new web browser you don’t have to learn a new way to interact with your bookmarks.
Delibar is activated by a customizable keyboard command. Once activated you can start typing to search all your bookmarks and then use the arrow keys to navigate to the desired bookmark. Once selected it will open in a new tab in whichever browser you want.
It also allows access to multiple accounts, a quick keyboard shortcut for adding bookmarks, sharing via Twitter, Facebook and bit.ly, and allows you to hide the dock icon. It’s got a lot of features for the minimal task it has to do.
The only reals downside to Delibar is cost and the fact that it adds an icon to your menu bar. Sure Delibar isn’t expensive (only $18) but I only have it because it came with some software bundle I bought. Once I switched to Chrome I found a use for it before that I didn’t use it at all.
As a minimal desktop/ui lover I really wish I could hide the menu icon and have Delibar just show in a window on top of all the other application windows when I’ve used the keyboard command to access it.
#### Official Delicious Chrome Extension
The first thing to note is that this hasn’t been updated in a year even though the developers indicate it’s in a partially finished state.
Just as all extensions on Chrome, installing this is really really easy. Once it’s instally you need to sign in to Delicious through Chrome and it’s all set up. You can also sync your Delicious bookmarks back to Chrome which will let you search them through the URL/Search bar of the browser.
My biggest complaint is that Chrome doesn’t really denote results that are bookmarks very well. Sure there is a star but I’d rather see a light blue hightlight/background on items that are your bookmarks. The search also doesn’t key in on your tags for bookmarks which renders tagging bookmarks all but useless.
The official extension is also missing a way to set a keyboard shortcut for adding new bookmarks. Sure you can use the default Chrome shortcut of ⌘D to set a bookmark and put it in the Delicious folder but you can’t tag it in Delicious without visiting the website. If you click on the ‘tag’ icon then you can do all the normal stuff you’d expect to be able to do with a site you’re sending to Delicious.
#### Delicious Bookmarker
Similiar to the previous Chrome Extention [Delicious Bookmarker](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/admlhjejpgfmlfhooopmkggmfbeabkfn#) lets you send items to Delicious with all of the same options you’d expect. What I’m baffled by is the ‘options’ provided by the extension, they’re aren’t any really. Sure it lets you download the tags you have in Delicious so it can auto suggest options for tags but that’s hardly a user option, it’s more of a configuration item.
Delicious Bookmarker doesn’t allow you to search your bookmarks on Delicious from Chrome so it’s really only a solution if you want to send things to Delicious and interact with them on the Delicious site.
#### Delicious Bookmarks
Not to be confused with the Official extension [Delicious Bookmarks](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lnapbapmncaacbfijemonkinanfaebhm#) again simply provides a way to add items to Delicious with no keyboard shortcuts, or way to search your existing bookmarks so you can actually use them.
#### Delicious Tools
[Delicious Tools](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gclkcflnjahgejhappicbhcpllkpakej) does much the same as the last two options, it allows you to add items quickly to Delicious but provides no way to search your bookmarks. It comes out above the two others though because it allows you to set a keyboard shortcut to add a bookmark and will grab the selected text to use as a note.
#### Chromicious
[Chromicious](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/animchmhhndbcfahoigdpelodbhnhepg) lets you add items to Delicious and also syncs items to your local bookmarks. Unfortunately it doesn’t provide a keyboard shortcut for adding items to your bookmarks nor does the search work very well. Items that have tags just don’t show up in searches from the URL/Search bar, again this makes tagging things totally useless.
#### LaunchBar
Again this isn’t a Chrome specific option but if you’re a [Launchbar](http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/index.html) user then there is a way to add {Delicious as a search template to LaunchBar](http://www.griffincaprio.com/blog/2009/10/launchbar-delicious-search-template.html). To see private bookmarks you’ll need to be signed in to Delicious. It doesn’t open the actual bookmark in a new tab but a search for the tag you’ve specified in the search. This doesn’t cover adding items to Delicious but it does cover searching so if you like one of the ‘add only’ options above then this may also fill your searching itch.
If you’re an [Alfred](http://www.alfredapp.com/) or [QuickSilver](http://quicksilver.en.softonic.com/mac) (I think that’s the new official site) user I have no doubt something similar could also be cooked up for them.
### Other Options
I haven’t tried everything but here are a few others I found that might work for you.
#### Pukka
[Pukka](http://codesorcery.net/pukka) looks pretty similar to Delibar just not as pretty. Watch the [screencast](http://codesorcery.net/sites/default/files/screencasts/Pukka%20Intro%20Screencast.mov) to see how it works.
#### Delish
Lists as Leopard only so even if it works it’s pretty safe to assume it’s stopped development. [Delish](http://pinepointsoftware.com/delish/site/).
#### Spotlight
Looks like you can also [import Delicious Bookmarks in to Spotlight](http://blog.ryanparman.com/2011/01/01/import-deliciouspinboard-bookmarks-into-spotlight-for-mac-os-x/) but it certainly looks like a lot of work.
### So Which One?
I had hoped to find a native Chrome extension that allowed me to remove Delibar, not because I hate Delibar but I just wanted to remove another icon from my menu bar. Unfortunately there just doesn’t seem to be a full feature Chrome extension for using Delicious. Two are pretty close (Chromicious and the Official Extension) but the fact that they don’t see tags on bookmarks properly just makes them not quite good enough. So looks like I’m using Delibar still unless someone else has a better option.